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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Estimated to have gathered 2 million pilgrim youths around the globe, Pope Benedict XVI enjoyed what was never said in news media about Catholic Youths-- vibrant and up for the Church' call to holiness.

“I have been mayor of Madrid for 16 years and never in my life have I met people so willing to help out and follow instructions.. Madrid has never put on an event as challenging as this one...

“One thing is that it is amazing that an 84-year-old man can bring together more than one million young people.

“We should focus on the faith and not on a person, but we live in a world in which the abstract needs to be made personal by someone and in which young people need to affirm their willingness to set aside their routines in order meet others like themselves, and be open to getting excited and sharing about a message... (A)nd that is what Benedict XVI has done."

I can only rejoice by the fact that the World Youth Day in Madrid was a success! Truly, as Blessed John Paul II said, our youths are the future of the Church.

So let's look forward for the next World Youth Day outside Rome: BRAZIL!!! YOU are invited to submit YOUR Slogan with the theme: Go and make disciples of all nations. (Mt. 28:19)

Friday, August 12, 2011

You are probably starting to hear about ahumanitarian crisis unfolding in East Africa, mostly affecting Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Catholic Relief Services staff in the region report dreadful conditions. This just came in from a refugee camp in Kenya:

They've walked for days or weeks from Somalia, and their shoes show it. Dusty and worn, the sandals of a little boy dangle in his hand as he wails in the center of the camp. Nearby, his exhausted 22-year-old mother, Momina, rocks her sobbing baby. "We had sheep, goats and cattle—over a dozen,” she says. "They all died from the drought.... Food was running out. So, we left."

These terrible conditions have sparked an exodus of refugees—mostly women and children—pouring into Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food.

East Africa's worst drought in more than half a centuryis causing extreme hunger for more than 11 million people. Severe lack of rainfall has resulted in failed crops, critical shortages in food and water, and countless numbers of livestock dying from dehydration and starvation. Further compounding the crisis are drastic increases in food prices.

All this brings to mind sobering images from the Ethiopian famine of 1984. Who can forget the pictures of emaciated, listless children on TV? The full scope of such a humanitarian catastrophe was not fully realized until after so many had died.

Since 1960, CRS has provided water and agricultural programs in Kenya and Ethiopia, where current drought conditions are not as dire as in Somalia. Your previous gifts are already saving lives because those programs helped us dig deep wells that have helped lessen the drought's effects. But this drought is so widespread that our existing efforts are not enough. We need your help.

I ask you to please give now and help prevent another disaster like the 1984 Ethiopian famine.Please helpour brothers and sisters in East Africa, who so desperately need our help.